The REV Ocean research vessel will launch its maiden expedition in 2027, focusing on the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt. Scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute and the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research will lead a project to measure how much carbon the floating seaweed absorbs and how much gets sequestered when it sinks to the seafloor. The mission aims to fill a major gap in understanding the role of wild Sargassum mats in the global carbon cycle. The expedition will also examine biodiversity, microplastic accumulation, and train early career ocean professionals from island nations affected by Sargassum influxes. All data will be shared via the Ocean Data Platform. This research could inform future carbon removal strategies and biomass valorization efforts, such as the AWI spin-off Macrocarbon that turns Sargassum into fossil fuel substitutes.
